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I’m told that Biggins has won a TV show called I’m a Celebrity… Get me out of here! This has evidently passed me by, but appears to matter to many others in Britain.

What if we raised the bar and defined celebrity in global terms: who would appear in a list of the most iconic and recognisable living people around the world?

This exercise would filter out much of the media’s influence because this tends to be local rather than global (though Hollywood and the music industry would have prominent representatives, as would some global sports like soccer and motor racing). But I suspect the biggest reversal from the usual celebrity rankings would be the inclusion of political and religious leaders. Rank and titles would reappear as a sign of renown; age would gain over youth; men over women.

I’ve not done the research (has anyone?), but would expect the following to appear prominently on a global celebrity ranking (some titles matter more than the title holders):

The President of the United States

Nelson Mandela

The Pope

The Dalai Lama

Osama bin Laden

Muhammad Ali

Pele

The Queen of England

The Archbishop of Canterbury

UN Secretary General

Madonna, Michael Jackson or Mick Jagger

Bill Gates or Richard Branson

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5 Responses to “Think global”

Firstly……
Number 1. Would be Alan Shearer. HA!
Interesting I have to say, maybey you should see who has the most friends on facebook then surely they ought to be high up there.
Or maybey he/she has too much time on their hands.

No, no, no that list is all wrong, it would clearly be:
1. Johnny Depp, aka King of the world!
2. Daniel Craig, (next in command)
3. Harry Potter
4. Santa Claus
. . . and then maybe a few of the world leaders, but only maybe.

I would challenge those. If the Queen of England, The Pope, UN Secretary General etc can’t be recalled by name then surely that detracts from their fame somewhat. Instead they are there by virtue of reputation from their predecessors. It would be similar to vaguely putting “McDonalds owner”, James Bond, Harry Potter or Mickey Mouse in there.